Bangladesh to face Whatmore's Malaysia for Asian Games semifinal spot

Bangladesh will meet Malaysia in the quarter-finals of the Asian Games cricket tournament on Tuesday, after Dave Whatmore's side finished top of Group B despite their final match against Oman being washed out by persistent rain in Nishine.

The washout handed Malaysia a share of the points, enough to finish above Hong Kong, China and eliminate Oman altogether.

Malaysia ended with three points from two games, having earlier thrashed Hong Kong by eight wickets, while Oman's solitary point proved insufficient for qualification.

Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan had already secured byes to the last eight. Pakistan face Hong Kong early on Monday,

India meet Afghanistan later that morning, and Nepal play Sri Lanka at 6am on Tuesday before Bangladesh take on Malaysia at 11am.

Nepal owe their own progress to a similar washout, with rain also ruling out their final group game against hosts Japan.

Malaysia's coach Dave Whatmore previously managed Bangladesh, though his side lost all five warm-up matches against the Bangladesh High Performance and Under-23 sides recently.

The two sides have met only once before, Bangladesh edging Malaysia by two runs in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games quarter-final en route to the semi-finals.

Victory in Nishine would likely set up a last-four meeting with Pakistan, should they beat Hong Kong on Monday.